


Playlist on Repeat

by eldee



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M, gleefics2010 Valentine's Day Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-15
Updated: 2010-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:16:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eldee/pseuds/eldee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puck is forced to sit next to Rachel on a Glee field trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playlist on Repeat

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the gleefics Valentine's Exchange 2010. (Written after 1.13 aired.) The summary is the exact prompt I worked from. Thank you to sionnain for being my beta!

Rachel hated it when they called it the short bus.

And when she said _they_ , she meant _everyone_. It wasn't just the jocks and popular kids that called it that, in a most derogatory manner. It was Glee's own people too! Although, admittedly, some of Glee's own people _were_ jocks and popular kids -- or, at least, used to be popular.

"All right, everyone on the bus," Mr. Schuester called out as the yellow bus drove up to the front of the school, near the newly installed wheelchair ramp. He threw his arm in the air and beckoned them with a twitch of fingers, trying to corral the Glee kids, who were lulling around in the front foyer. "Time to go!"

Rachel swore she heard some of them groan, though that was just ridiculous because everyone should appreciate the opportunity to see the art exhibit, which was themed 'Music of the Ages'. Even if it was eight o'clock on a Saturday morning --especially then! Fitting in as many cultural experiences into the week was a benefit to them all.

"Come on, yo!" Noah Puckerman called out, throwing his own arm in the air, and pointed a thumb towards the door. "Time to get on the short bus!"

Rachel pursed her lips together. She knew for a fact that Puck was only open to calling such public attention to himself as being a part of the Glee Club while physically inside of McKinley High was because it _was_ so early on a Saturday morning and there was no one else present. And, also, he was trying to score brownie points with the members of the club. That, and his language, were both disgusting and inappropriate.

"Mr. Schuester," Rachel said sharply, pumping her legs fast so that she could brush past Mike and Matt, trying to catch up to the teacher's side. He seemed not to hear her, so that just made her call out louder. "Mr. Schuester!"

He paused just outside the bus, turned slowly, and gave her that blank look she had grown accustomed to when people were trying to ignore her. (So she in turn ignored it.) "Yes, Rachel?" he asked as she came to stand in front of him.

"Mr. Schue-" she began, but was cut off as Mercedes bumped into her (most likely on purpose!), pushing her up against Mr. Schuester, who then jumped a good two feet back. After shooting an irritated glance over her shoulder, she looked back at the teacher firmly. "Mr. Schuester, I find Noah's language regarding our transportation vulgar and demeaning. This bus," she said, pointing at the vehicle, "is not short. It's quite the moderate size. Also, he's obviously making fun of Artie when he says things like that."

"Rachel," he started, and she could practically hear his internal sigh, "I don't think he meant it that way."

"What other way could he possibly mean it?"

"Artie isn't complaining," Mr. Schuester said. They both looked over to Artie. He was chatting away to none other then Puck as Puck was strapping his chair onto the ramp to be lifted up into the bus.

Rachel lifted her chin into the air. "I'm not meaning to complain," she said. Mr. Schuester's eyebrows shot up, and Rachel wasn't sure why because she wasn't saying anything surprising, "but I do find it highly inappropriate and possibly damaging to morale."

And they all knew that the morale of the glee club hung in dire balance lately.

"I will talk to him, Rachel."

She smiled. "That's all I ask."

His mouth gave a twitch. "Please take a seat, Rachel."

"Of course, Mr. Schuester."

But as Rachel got onto the bus, her usual confidence dropped a little. Taking a seat wasn't nearly as easy a thing as her teacher made it out to be. It was downright difficult.

She knew she wasn't very popular amongst the other members at the moment. Not even with Finn, who seemed to be avoiding her lately. Not that she could blame him, not exactly, after the bomb she dropped on him. And it wasn't that he was being mean or rude, but he was keeping the same distance from her that he seemed to be keeping from Puck and Quinn, and that was… unexpected. And a bit discouraging too, as Finn was the only real friend she had in glee club.

Rachel took a deep breath, smiling as she looked around the bus, determining where to sit. Artie's wheelchair was to be strapped into an open space that was in the middle of the bus, with half the seats in front and the other half in back. The McKinley students were to sit in the back of the bus.

Finn was in the back, sprawled across a seat, clearly claiming it as his own. Matt was across from him doing the same, and Mike was just in front of Finn. Across from Mike was, at no surprise, Santana and Brittany sharing a seat. Quinn had a seat to herself, and she sat on the edge of it, as if keeping others away from sitting with her. Tina sat in the seat closest to the wheelchair spot, and Kurt and Mercedes shared a seat across from her.

Rachel walked up the aisle, and took one of the two empty seats left in the back. She slid over up against the window, but sat up prim and properly. Looking around, she tried to catch someone's eye, anyone's, but they all seemed to be otherwise occupied, even if it was with staring out the window, like Quinn. Mr. Schue had followed Rachel onto the bus, and took the one other open seat in the back.

Rachel noticed Puck as he stood up from strapping Artie's chair into the wheelchair accessible spot, making sure he was secure. Puck glanced towards the back of the bus quickly, but then moved to sit in front of Artie.

"Puck," Mr. Schue called out, causing the boy to pause. Mr. Schue's tone was friendly, as if a gentle reminder, but also serious. "Back here, please. Like I talked about?"

Puck turned around, and gave Mr. Schue a thoroughly unimpressed look. New Directions wasn't exactly excited to be sharing a field trip with Jane Addams Academy's glee club, the one who had stolen their best numbers. (Even if New Directions had beaten the pants of them anyway.) And it seemed that Puck wasn't thrilled with his lack of choice for sharing a bus seat either.

"Come on now, Mr. Schuester," Quinn cooed in her little sarcastic voice. "I'm sure Puck would love to be surrounded by those kinds of girls. They seem just the right-"

The teacher cut her off. "Quinn," he said. He gestured at the seat Rachel was in -- likely because it was the only one open where someone didn't have to be asked to budge over like some elementary school student.

Puck gave a deep sigh, but his jaw set. "Fine," he said, voice low. He passed Artie, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt, all whom seemed to give him a sympathetic look.

Rachel tried to ignore the embarrassed blush that crept to her cheeks. That Puck was getting their sympathy because he had to sit with her -- well, she was certain it wasn't because of _that_. There was no call for it.

Puck, very reluctantly, sat down beside Rachel. She tried to smile at him, but he blatantly ignored her, looking toward the front of the bus.

This was going to be a long bus ride. Even if it was only going to be an hour and a half.

Mr. Schue hollered out to the bus driver, urging them to get going. With the bus moving and the trip begun, the chatter from the other glee club members picked up.

Rachel would not be deterred. This wasn't going to be a bad experience, and she wasn't going to let her ex-boyfriend (if you could call him that? Yes. Yes you could, she supposed,) ruin that for her.

"I'm excited to see the exhibit," she offered. "It should be good."

"I'd rather be sleeping," Puck answered, still looking forward, sounding very unimpressed.

"Yes, but it will expand our culture experiences--"

"--I'd rather be sleeping," Puck cut her off. He tilted his head to the side, thinking. "Or seeing the Pussy Cat Dolls shake their asses in my direction."

Rachel pursed her lips together. She was certain that Puck said that just to get a reaction out of her, and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"I don't see how _that_ ," she insisted, "is going to help…"

She trailed off, and gave a huffed sigh. Even though he still wasn't looking at her, she surmised by the smirk on his face that her reaction was exactly what he expected.

She looked down at her hands, "You could've at least picked Justin Timberlake. He's a surprisingly talented performer."

"I don't need his junk waved in my direction, thanks." He finally glanced over at her. "Or is that something you're now into, Rachel? Because, you know, I could help out with that."

Rachel's chin stuck out. "No thank you, Noah."

He snorted. "Oh, right. You don't do sex. It's why we broke up."

"That is _not_ why," Rachel replied firmly. "You were way more interested in Quinn anyway. At least now I know why."

His eyes flashed angrily. "Yeah, and thanks to you, so does everyone else."

"I heard you told Mercedes and she told everyone else anyway," Rachel said matter-of-factly. "Almost everyone."

"Everyone but _you_ ," Puck snapped meanly, "and with good reason."

That stung Rachel, because she knew it was true and it bothered her that they didn't feel the need to tell her such a vital piece of information when it came to Fi-- glee club. Also, Mercedes and the rest hadn't told Finn either, and someone had to do it! It wasn't fair to keep it from him. Or to keep it from her to keep from him.

As if picking up on those thoughts, Puck continued, "You're the one who made a mess of everything."

She spun around to face him directly, hand waving through the air. "Finn deserved to know!"

He squarely faced her back, finger pointing through the air at her. "No, YOU wanted Quinn out of the way so you could have him!"

"Well _you_ need to take responsibility for your actions!"

"So do YOU!"

Rachel was about to yell back at him, but she snapped her mouth shut when she realized how eerily quiet the bus had become. Glancing around, she could see that everyone, including Mr. Schue, was staring right at them, not even pretending to hide it. Rachel glanced over to Finn, and he looked concerned but also really uncomfortable. It broke Rachel's heart that he didn't even offer her one of his half-grins of support.

"Well, gee," Quinn said in her sarcastic voice. "Don't stop arguing about me on my account or anything."

"Or me," Finn added quietly.

"Sorry," Puck said. He was looking at the front of the bus again, and he didn't even look back at them.

Rachel added, "We didn't mean to-"

"-Be so loud," Kurt added onto her sentence haughtily, shooting her his beloved Rachel-screwed-up look, seen on so few occasions. Mercedes giggled next to him.

Their teacher asked, "Do I have to separate you two?"

"Yes!" Puck said just as Rachel said, "No!"

Rachel gave Puck a look, and leaned over to see him. "Mr. Schuester, we're not five years old," she insisted. "Surely we can agree to sit together for one bus ride. With _out_ yelling at each other. Right, Noah?"

Puck just scowled.

"Okay, Rachel," Mr. Schuester said, unsure. "We'll be picking up the other girls in ten minutes. We'll see if you can last that long."

"We can," she assured. She sat back, keeping quiet, and eventually the others forgot about them and continued on with their own conversations. The boys and Brittany and Santana in the back even started to sing a road-trip song about wheels on the bus going round and round.

Puck reached into his backpack, and pulled out his iPod, seemingly to decide he didn't want to partake in, or even listen to, their peers with their songs. Rachel sort of wanted to join, but she didn't feel exactly welcome at the moment, so she sat silently, staring out the window.

"Shit," Puck muttered under his breath.

She glanced over. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she was unsure if it was the right thing to do at the moment.

"No power left," Puck offered, sighing. "My charger must've crapped out." He rested his head against the back of the bus seat. He looked like he was in pain.

"I could share?" Rachel didn't even think twice before offering. She took her iPod from her large purse, and started to unravel the headphones. "You can take one ear bud, I'll take the other."

"No," Puck answered. He added, "I don't want to listen to your show tune shit."

"It is not -- it's excellent musical performance," Rachel retorted, trying to keep her voice even. "Besides, I have a Noah playlist."

She snapped her mouth shut again, not meaning to put it that way. What she had meant to say is _non-show tunes playlist_ , but well. It was named Noah on her iPod anyway.

He looked over at her curiously. "What?"

She shrugged, trying not to make a big deal out of it. "Well. I could tell you weren't really into the show tunes when we were dating."

"I wouldn't call that dating."

She ignored him, continuing. "I started a playlist of songs I knew you liked, or that you told me about." She looked down at her hands. "I just kept adding to it when-" She fell silent and shifted uncomfortably in the seat.

"When what?" Puck prompted. She didn't answer. And Noah smirked, finishing her thought, "When you think of me."

She shook her head. She would not admit to that. But it seemed that he didn't believe her. He leaned in, though she leaned back until she hit the window of the bus. He was awfully close to her face now. "You think of me, don't you, Rachel?" His eyes scanned down, gaze falling to the bare skin of her legs that her skirt didn't cover. He looked back up at her. His voice was low and just a little too seductive, "Admit it. You want me."

She could be mean and cruel, like he was sometimes. She could say _we both know that isn't true_ or _get a grip_ (he'd take that the wrong way) or even _you still can't touch my boobs, Noah_ (and that one was still 100% true.)

But, instead, she rolled her eyes and pushed him, and he swayed away easily with a grin on his face. "You want to or not?" He raised his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes again, holding out one of her earphones. "Listen, I mean."

He shrugged, and seemed less guarded now. "Sure, why not?"

She handed him one and he took it with a nod of thanks. She scrolled and found the right playlist. But, before she pressed play, she said quietly. "It wasn't completely horrible, you know. And we actually talked about, like, serious stuff." And that was true, even though it was during their break-up -- she had opened up to him more easily and relaxed than she could even around Finn. And even when there was slushy on his face, cleaning it off hadn't been so bad. He'd even risked more, just for her, even if he wouldn't admit it.

But he didn't seem to want to agree with her. "You still wouldn't let me touch your boobs," he said, though his voice was light and almost playful.

"And you're still a jerk."

He gave a half smile. "Guess I am."

They didn't speak at all during the bus trip, not even when they stopped to pick up the Jane Addams Academy girls. Puck rested comfortably against the bus seat, head back and eyes closed. Rachel looked ahead, and tried not to glance over at him too much, though she was curious about what he thought of the songs.

She couldn't help it, though, when _Sweet Caroline_ played. She noted he got a little bit more tense, as if he couldn't relax, but it wasn't in a bad way. However, a tiny grin tugged at the corners of his lips and he slit his eyes open just a crack, glancing at her. She couldn't help but smile -- that wasn't such a bad memory.

When they arrived at the art gallery, Puck pulled the bud out of his ear and handed it back to her.

"Thanks," he said, and stood up before she could respond. She wanted to suggest that maybe they tour the exhibit together, but he brushed past Kurt and went to assist Artie before she had the chance. And, perhaps it was better she didn't push anything.

The two schools didn't mingle much during the tour, each club keeping to themselves, though both teachers had insisted they get to know each other. Rachel surprised herself by realizing as the day went on that she was acutely aware of _Noah_ , and his whereabouts and positioning in the group, rather than Finn. She always thought of Finn, but today… well. She wasn't so much.

She was also surprised to find that Noah wasn't flirting with any of the girls from the other glee club, not even when the really pretty ones obviously tried to get his attention. He kept with New Directions, though he seemed to be hanging around the edge of the group, much like she did. And more than once she caught him looking over at her, though he always quickly looked away and didn't actually acknowledge her.

When it was time to board the bus again, all the students huddled in the parking lot, waiting for the bus driver to pull up.

"Come on, everyone," Puck yelled out again. "Time to get on the -- bus," he said, after a very small hesitation during his sentence.

One that no one probably even noticed, except for Rachel, and it caused her to beam anyway. She was pretty certain that Noah noticed his re-thinking of his words pleased her, but he was back to ignoring her.

Until he got onto the bus, that was. She was quite startled to find that, once he was done helping with Artie (and chatting with him, as the chair-bound boy seemed to be the only one who was really talking to Puck right now), Puck took the seat next to her again. Even though he'd been invited up to the front by at least two girls.

"Hi," she said.

He kind of smiled at her, not fully but at least he was acknowledging her now.

She asked, "Did you like the exhibit? I thought that the --"

"Rachel," he interrupted, and sighed. "I'm tired."

"Okay," she said, head down again. She hadn't meant to annoy him, she really hadn't. She just thought that maybe they could talk. "Sorry."

"It's--" He paused, searching for the right words. Finally, he said, "Want to listen to music again?"

He wasn't mean, and he wasn't angry, he just seemed to want some peace and quiet. And he was able to tell her without being rude about it; well, minus the interrupting thing. But she got that a lot.

And, for them, it was a start.

"Sure," she said, grinning, digging out her iPod again. They settled into comfortable silence, lost in their own little musical world as their peers around them chattered away and ignored them.

At one point, Noah turned his head towards her. "You know, you picked some pretty good songs."

Rachel smiled brightly at him. "I'm glad you think so."

It was a start. Or, perhaps, a continuation.

 

~end


End file.
